Fans at ballpark deserve a second look

Updated 12:17 am, Wednesday, December 4, 2013

While Major League Baseball is continuing to fine-tune its expanded-replay plans, one humble segment of the baseball establishment ought not be overlooked:

The folks who buy the tickets, sit in the seats and have every right to watch the exact replays that will determine whether an umpire's call was correct or blown.

Now that the time has come for baseball to join the expanded-replay party, the fans need to be invited. By finally accepting more replay, baseball is opening the door to a whole new technological world with a new type of fan, one who demands replays right away.

The fan will turn to his smartphone, anyway. So put it on the scoreboard. Controversial/challenged call or no controversial/challenged call. No more need to deprive him/her when luxury-suite revelers can see the replay anyway.

Rob Manfred, MLB's chief operating officer, suggested at last month's general managers' meetings that fans can expect more replay on scoreboards next season, the extent of which hasn't been made official. Baseball should hold nothing back, within reason.

In the past, MLB told clubs to use good judgment and reminded them they can't show replays of (1) balls and strikes, (2) plays that were being reviewed, (3) brushback pitches and (4) obvious bad calls by umpires.

In the future, there would be no need to show balls and strikes on the big board if only because they're not reviewable. Ditto on brushback pitches. No reason to further tick off the crowd. But everything else? Fair game, including plays being reviewed and obvious bad calls - the reason for expanded replay in the first place.

The NFL and NBA, which have had expanded replay far longer, show more close calls on scoreboards. Baseball might as well do it right, including involving the fans, without penalizing them for buying a ticket while the rest of civilization can view a replay to confirm a call was right or wrong.